From the obvious to the obscure, a collection of local ties in ‘Oppenheimer.’

Though it finished in second place behind “Barbie,” Christopher Nolan’s biopic/political thriller “Oppenheimer” lit the box office on fire, earning a higher-than-expected $80.5 million in its opening weekend. 

“Oppenheimer” is a star-studded character study about theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. Cillian Murphy plays “the father of the atomic bomb” alongside an ensemble of Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Jason Clarke, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, Olivia Thirlby, Matthew Modine, and Alden Ehrenreich.

 

Matt Damon as Gen. Leslie Groves, left, and Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in a scene from "Oppenheimer."
Cambridge’s Matt Damon as Gen. Leslie Groves, left, and Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in a scene from “Oppenheimer.” (Universal Pictures)

You might think the movie, one-half of the cultural phenomenon known as “Barbenheimer,” has no local ties, but that’s where we come in. Rest assured. “Boston-ness” shines brightly in “Oppenheimer,” not just because Damon delivers an Oscar-worthy supporting turn. The Cambridge native plays Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves, the man in charge of the Manhattan Project. The push-pull between Oppenheimer and Groves is a great source of enjoyment. “Groves had a very big ego and was not well liked by really anybody,” Damon said in the film’s press notes. “But Oppenheimer liked him; they had a certain kind of understanding and rapport. Groves never doubted what Oppenheimer did or why he did it. Groves was supremely proud of the engineering feat and the scientific significance of their efforts.” (Fun fact: Groves studied engineering at MIT.)

Here are more Boston ties to ‘Oppenheimer’

Nolan adapted the script from Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.” Sherwin was a nuclear history scholar and former Tufts University professor. In 1988 he taught a course on the atomic age live via satellite from the school’s health sciences campus in Boston with students in attendance from Moscow State University. Sherwin died on Oct. 6, 2021.  

Benny Safdie is Edward Teller and Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in OPPENHEIMER, written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.
BU alum Benny Safdie is Edward Teller and Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in “Oppenheimer,” written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.

Benny Safdie is a BU alum

Benny Safdie graduated from Boston University College of Communication in 2008. He plays Hungarian theoretical physicist Edward Teller, a hydrogen bomb advocate who would later testify against Oppenheimer. At one point, Safdie was actually considering becoming a physicist. “I was like this close,” Safdie said in the film’s press notes. “There was a moment in my life where it was like, ‘movies or physics.’ I chose movies, but all through high school, I was learning about the standard model and quantum mechanics. I was studying with a teacher at Columbia University and visiting major laboratories, all the things one does when seriously thinking about becoming a physicist. So, it was kind of insane that Chris asked me to do this. It was an amazing confluence of my own interests.”  Safdie is also the acclaimed “Uncut Gems” director and co-starred in the hit film “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret,” as the title character’s father.

A cameo for Cambridge’s Casey Affleck

Oscar-winner Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”) makes a cameo appearance as Boris Pash, chief of Army counterintelligence at the Presidio in San Francisco, clashing with Oppenheimer over differing political views.  Earlier this year, Affleck and Damon, who do not share scenes in “Oppenheimer,” filmed their new crime flick “The Instigators” in and around Boston.

Nolan name-drops JFK

President John F. Kennedy gets some name recognition for blocking the senate confirmation of Oppenheimer’s nemesis Lewis Strauss for Secretary of Commerce. Kennedy was a young senator from Massachusetts during the 1959 hearing, which turned out to be a surprising rejection for Strauss. During his presidency, JFK honored Oppenheimer with the Enrico Fermi Award for scientific achievement.  Lyndon B. Johnson presented the award to Oppenheimer two weeks after Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. 

Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy in "Oppenheimer."
Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy in “Oppenheimer.”

Emily Blunt isn’t from Boston, but her husband John Krasinski is a Newton native. So that makes her a local by marriage. Blunt plays Kitty Oppenheimer, Robert’s complicated, volatile wife … And finally, we’ll also claim David Dastmalchian (“The Dark Knight”), last seen as Albert DeSalvo in “Boston Strangler,” which is streaming on Hulu. Dastmalchian steps into the part of William Borden, a staunch nuclear weapons advocate.